Kloppers evades specifics on BHP chief succession

Peter Ker and Glenda Kwek

BHP Billiton has refused to put a timeline on its succession planning, with chief executive Marius Kloppers saying he is flattered that several of the prime candidates to replace him are executives that he drafted into the company.

Mr Kloppers' future was the elephant in the room at BHP's annual meeting of Australian shareholders, following recent speculation that the BHP board had ramped up moves to replace Mr Kloppers.

In his first substantive public comment on the issue, Mr Kloppers refused to outline his own plans for his tenure, saying that he continued to serve at the ''pleasure of the board'' despite recently completing his fifth year in the job.

Several of Mr Kloppers' top lieutenants - including Andrew MacKenzie and Alberto Calderon - have been touted as strong candidates to replace him, and Mr Kloppers noted that he had been pivotal in their ascension at BHP.

''Many of them came into the company because, you know, I recruited them, and they were willing to come and work with me,'' he said.

''It's flattering for me that all of the guys that work with me are being talked about. That means that they're serious people, that they do a serious job. As I said, many of them have been friends and colleagues for a long time.''

BHP chairman Jac Nasser insisted that he remained 100 per cent supportive of Mr Kloppers, and said there was no ''ideal'' period of time for a chief executive to remain

in the job. Earlier during the AGM, Mr Nasser highlighted the recent ascension of Graham Kerr to the role of chief financial officer as a sign that BHP's succession planning was robust.

''In the past year, Graham Kerr, a long-time employee, took over from Alex Vanselow as chief financial officer. This is a good example of our executive development and succession planning process,'' he said.

Mr Kerr became CFO on January 1, and his relative youth has meant few pundits have seen him as a serious candidate to succeed Mr Kloppers.

It was unclear whether Mr Nasser's decision to name Mr Kerr on such a significant stage was an attempt to put his name into the chief executive mix.

But tellingly, Mr Nasser indicated that Mr Kerr's elevation to the CFO position would not have occurred so fast had former CFO Mr Vanselow not resigned almost exactly one year ago.

Mr Kerr is a 41-year-old Australian who joined BHP as a graduate accountant in 1994.

Apart from a two-year stint at Iluka Resources between 2004 and 2006, Mr Kerr has moved through various roles at BHP, including being president of the diamonds division that was divested over the past 11 months. The meeting attracted a wide array of protesters, including four abseilers who were expected to be charged after scaling the exterior of the Sydney Convention Centre.

Another protester was escorted out of the meeting after she shouted ''uranium is blood money''.

Several shareholders voiced their concerns about the lack of returns through dividends and other measures.

Mr Nasser defended the current level of shareholder returns, saying that any increase to shareholder returns would have to reduce the amount of money dedicated to something else, and that could see the company's debt loading or spending on growth affected.

''There is no free lunch here,'' he said. ''I think we have the balance about right.''